New York City
New York SAC Milo Zachery was in the office early, enjoying the relative quiet after supervising a “knock,” FBI talk for serving a predawn search warrant on a suspect. The knock had gone well, and he wasn’t needed, so he poured a cup of coffee and was reading the morning briefs when his secretary, Gladys, knocked on the door. “Special delivery for you, sir. From Agent Drummond and Agent Caine.”
“What’s this all about?” He took the envelope. “An overnight from London? He better not invoice this, do you have any idea how much it cost?”
The overnight envelope was thin. Zachery ripped it open. Out fell a thick, creamy envelope with Zachery’s name on the front in elegant script. Inside was a three-page handwritten letter.
Sir,
We apologize for the subterfuge, but we had no other way to warn you. Our communications have been compromised. Agent Caine and I were attacked yesterday on the way to London to look into the drone murders. Ironically, we were attacked by a drone, which Agent Caine shot down. With a Glock.
There was no way for anyone to know we were working the drone murders unless they were listening to or watching our communication with Agent Savich. We believe the Home Office has also been compromised.
We can only assume your communications are compromised, too. I put Adam on a plane to London last night. Tomorow, he and I will try to discover the depth of the breach at MI5 and who is responsible. On your end, I suggest Gray do a full intrusion protocol on every system we utilize. And yes, I know how much overtime that will cost.
Agent Caine asks me to remind you that Savich is probably in the same boat. We leave it to you as to how you wish to communicate with the CAU going forward—a similar letter has been sent to him as well. You must assume all phones and servers are being monitored. If listening devices are in place, I’d be surprised, but right now, we aren’t ruling out anything. I’d suggest taking a walk—without your phone—with Gray to initiate the protocols necessary to keep us all safe. Any software updates from the past six months need to be checked thoroughly. Anything that resembles the code for the WannaCry malware attack is suspect.
I’m afraid we’re going to have to communicate the old-fashioned way for the time being until we get a handle on how we’ve been infiltrated, and how deep the breach goes. NO COMPUTERS. We will report in daily by cable or letter, and you can send your replies to Drummond House in Westminster. Oh, yes, Ben is working with us. I trust you can assemble the rest of Covert Eyes and fill them in on the situation. And yes, we will do our best to stay alive and out of trouble.
Drummond & Caine
Zachery read the letter once more, then hurried to Gray Wharton’s cubicle one floor below.
Zachery wasn’t surprised to see Gray rumpled, his suit coat hanging half off the back of his chair, a granola power bar in his hand. Coffee cups littered his desk, and four computer screens were lined up in a curved array, each with a different program running.
“The breakfast of champions doesn’t come in a wrapping, you know. If you don’t start eating real food, I’ll be forced to hire you a chef. Now, Gray, according to Drummond, we have a problem.” He handed Gray the letter. He read it quickly, whistled.
“Seems the problem isn’t only with Drummond.” He stood up and grabbed his jacket. “Shall we take a walk, sir?”
Five minutes later, Zachery and Gray were out the front doors and onto Worth Street. Zachery saw a line forty people deep already winding around the side of the building, most waiting to get into the passport office or apply for citizenship. It might look like a security nightmare, but, in truth, this building was probably the safest place in all of New York City.
Still unspeaking, they took a right on Lafayette and then veered into Thomas Paine Park. Zachery could see the morning traffic was nose to tail, heard honking and swearing, a typical New York rush hour under way. It made him smile. He loved this city, loved it to his bones.
They took a bench that faced back toward Federal Plaza, and Zachery found himself wondering if Drummond and Mike, like he and Gray, were utilizing parks for their conversations.
Gray asked, “What have Nicholas and Mike gotten into? Someone tried to kill them with a drone attack?”
“Apparently so. I would have liked to see Agent Caine shoot a drone out of the sky. But first things first. We have to take them at their word we’re compromised, too. How can we get secure communications with Washington, and with Drummond?”
“Letters, cables, dedicated encrypted sat phones. It’s a six-hour flight between here and London—Clancy and Trident can make it in five, so if we’re desperate, we can use them, too.”
“Flying messages across the Atlantic? I’d love to hear the director’s thoughts on that manner of transmission.”
“Only until we figure out what’s happening. Don’t look at me like I’m crazy. It’s the safest, most secure method. You know the terrorists move all their high-level information by hand. They aren’t crazy enough to do it electronically anymore. And now we’re in the same boat.”
“I know that, Gray.”
“Sir, how anyone could have gotten into our systems is a mystery to me. We are fortified on all levels, and I would think an intrusion would have already shown up in the code. Does Nicholas have any idea who’s behind it?”
“You read the letter—he says he doesn’t, but you know Drummond, he probably already has four suspects in mind. And he’s hours ahead of us. He’s known this since last night. I would like to touch base with him immediately if you can figure out a way to do so securely.”
“We should coordinate with Savich and the CAU in D.C. right away. Though I’m not sure the best way to do it. We can simply buy disposable phones on our end, but how will they know to do it themselves?”
“Burner phones—” He broke off, looked across the park. “Is that Agent Scott?”
Sure enough, Agent Lia Scott was running across the street with a package in her hand, obviously looking for them. When she saw them, she put on a burst of speed. Gray couldn’t help but admire her latest outfit—conservative blue pantsuit, black low-heeled boots, and, underneath the tailored blue jacket, a Def Leppard concert T-shirt from their Pyromania tour. She never wore a nose ring at work, but her left ear glinted with hardware.
Even before she stopped, she said, “Sir, a package came a few minutes ago from Agent Savich in D.C. It says emergency on it. I saw you and Gray leave together, so I decided to try to catch you.”
Zachery took the envelope. “Thank you, Lia. Stay put, we need to get you up to speed.” As he ripped opened the envelope, he said, “In short, we have a comms breach.”
He laughed when he looked inside. It was a burner cell phone and a note with a phone number on it.
He dialed the number.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Criminal Apprehension Unit, CAU
Hoover Building
Washington, D.C.
Special Agent Dillon Savich drummed his fingers on the desk, looking out into the empty bullpen. It was early, and only Ruth, yawning, was at her desk, coffee and briefcase in hand.
He’d come into the office to clear out some paperwork. And there had been Nicholas’s letter waiting for him at the front desk. He’d ripped it open in the elevator, read it, and then turned right back around, went to the nearest 7-Eleven, grabbed a set of burner phones, and walked straight to the courier office on 14th Street. It was 5:00 a.m., and the courier could be in New York by seven thirty, for a price, of course. They were used to doing cross-city runs, but the kid who was there was more than willing to go to New York for the morning. He was at the train station fifteen minutes later, Amtrak chugging him up to the city.
Savich checked his Mickey Mouse watch again. Almost 8:00 a.m. “Come on, come on.”
The burner cell phone on his desk buzzed. He snatched it up.